John 9 is one of my favorite places in Scripture from which to think about witness. There are few topics that most Christians dread more than witness but they dread it, in part, because they are afraid that questions will arise that . . . Continue reading →
At the international Synod of Dort (1618–19) the Reformed churches across the Netherlands, the British Isles, and Europe confessed: “As many as are called by the gospel are sincerely called. For God has most earnestly and truly declared in His Word what . . . Continue reading →
Comes the question, Has the splintering of the Protestant church into thousands of denominations become a hindrance to our witness to the world? What can we do? This is an important question that we may not dismiss. Our Lord warned the visible . . . Continue reading →
As true churches of Jesus Christ, the URCNA are obligated to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in . . . Continue reading →
In Romans chapters 9–11 the Apostle Paul addresses the difficult question of whether the Lord has abandoned his promises to the Jews. Paul concludes that God has not abandoned his promises. He appeals to himself as an example, even though he was . . . Continue reading →
Yesterday we were motoring through Poway, a leafy suburb of San Diego, and we drove past a large Episcopal church with a large, temporary banner proclaiming, “All Welcome. No Exceptions.” That message was striking as it was brief. It struck me as . . . Continue reading →
The radicalization of the vulnerable is a sobering reality. Guilt, shame, and the longing for lost innocence can make people do the most terrible things—as long as salvation awaits on the other side. Whether it’s drinking Kool-Aid or strapping on a suicide . . . Continue reading →
The HB tends to focus on advancing the Reformation among the Reformed and Presbyterian churches in North America but we know that it is happening elsewhere. One example of the recovery of the Reformed theology, piety, and practice is the Rev. Mr. Phil Baiden, pastor . . . Continue reading →
Evangelism properly is what the minister does in the pulpit when he proclaims the gospel to the world but each of us as Christians is a witness or gives witness to the faith (the objective facts of redemptive history and the basic truths of Scripture summarized in the creeds) and to our faith, i.e., to our personal appropriation of Christ by grace alone, through faith alone. Continue reading →
In evangelical Christianity, to some degree after the so-called First Great Awakening and certainly after the so-called Second Great Awakening, the line between lay witness and the official (done from a particular ecclesiastical office) of preaching became blurred. The Reformed theologians who . . . Continue reading →
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax . . . Continue reading →
III. Ministers are fishers by office; they are catchers of the souls of men, sent “to open the eyes of the blind, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” Acts 26:18. Preachers of . . . Continue reading →
Mark Vander Pol recently pointed us to a wiki page titled, “How to Avoid Uncomfortable Conversations About Religion.” This page is useful on a variety of levels. On the most common level, some people are pests and it offers some good advice for dealing . . . Continue reading →
In Acts 17 Luke tells the story of Paul’s encounter with the Athenian Philosophical Society. Luke mentions two philosophical schools, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The latter were looking for the universal rational principle, for the way to align themselves with the . . . Continue reading →
We typically tell the spy only the name of the church and the city, and we ask him/her to learn about the church first from the website. More than one spy has called us to say he cannot find the service times, . . . Continue reading →
Bob Godfrey joined Chris Gordon last week to record two episodes of AGR. Bob is president of Westminster Seminary California and a convert to the Christian faith who came to faith through the ministry of a Reformed congregation. You can read his . . . Continue reading →
Colin raised this question a while back on Unashamed Workman. He asked for comments and, as Mike had just touched on this during the Westminster Seminary California Missional and Reformed Conference, I piped up: Hi Colin, This business of “living the gospel” . . . Continue reading →
Many years ago a fellow I knew used to practice what he called “evangelism” by asking people, “Do you know the way to [the local amusement park]?” Nice, irrepressibly helpful Midwesterners they were, folk would always stop to give directions. Then, our . . . Continue reading →
Word came yesterday that a presbyterian church, in a NAPARC denomination, cancelled its Sabbath day service yesterday in order to allow its members to go out and spend time with sinners on and, only incidentally, watch the Super Bowl. We might call . . . Continue reading →